Sawmill feed works control and reversing mechanism



March 17, 1953.

A. G. PETERSEN SAWMILL FEED WORKS CONTROL AND REVERSING MECHANISM 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Deg.

FIG. 5

3nventor AN DRgW G. PETE RSEN attorney Mamh 1953 A. G: PETERSEN v 2,631,620

SAWMILL FEED WORKS CONTROL AND REVERSING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 12, 1950 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 ZSnventor ANDREW G. PETERSEN (Ittomeg Patented Mar. 17, 1953 OFFICE SAWMILL FEED WORKS CONTROL AND REVERSING MECHANISM Andrew G. Petersen, Showlow, Ariz.

Application December 12, 1950, Serial No. 200,466

3 Claims.

This invention pertains to saw mill feed works control and reversing mechanism.

Heretofore small saw mills not using steam power have been operated by various types of friction drives. Power is usually furnished by internal combustion engines or by electric motors. It has been found that it is inefficient to attempt to compress air and operate the log carriage by pneumatic means similar to steam operation, therefore some means of mechanical operation of the carriage is necessary. Frictional control mechanism, as heretofore used, has been characterized by the use of belts, friction drum-s, and/or combinations of the two. All these have a common fault in that there is excessive wear on the belts and frictional surfaces and a great deal of manual power is required to shift and/or tighten the belts, or other mechanisms, necessary to obtain the forward and backward motion of the saw log carriage.

In view of the foregoing, one of the objects of my device is to provide mechanism for positive control of power to the saw mill carriage in a manner so that manual control is easy and accurate, thus enabling the sawyer to move the carriage in either direction and at any speed and stop it at any point in its travel, instantly.

Another object is to provide a control mechanism which has a minimum amount of drag and loss of power resulting therefrom.

Another object is to provide a control for the purposes above stated wherein clutch-es are used to transmit rotation from the driving to the driven parts which have their surfaces enclosed and protected and constructed in such a manner and of such materials thatwear and replacement of parts is held to a minimum.

Still another object is to provide a mechanism in which the use of leather or rubber belts is completely eliminated and power is transmitted from various shafts by means of clutch-es and chains, or the equivalent.

Other objects will appear hereafter.

I attain the foregoing objects by means of the devices, constructions, and combinations of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the log carriage drive;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the main shaft and clutches carried thereon;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the carriage drive as viewed from the left side of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the device as viewed from the right side of Figure l; and

Figure 5, Sheet 1, is an elevational view of the inner face of one of the clutches, taken on line 5-5, Figure 2.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the several views.

'In the drawings, 2 indicates a rectangular horizontally disposed frame made of timbers, or the like, in which the shafts hereafter described are transversely journailed; 3 indicates the saw mandrel or driving shaft located in the outer end portion 9 of the frame; 4 indicates the main, or clutch shaft centrally positioned in the frame; and 5, the jack shaft which is positioned beneath the frame and toward the inner end I0 of frame 2; and 5 the cable drum shaft which is disposed near the inner end 10 of the frame.

In the form of the device here illustrated, power is taken from the saw mandrel or drive shaft 3 and transmitted to clutch drums l and 8 which are positioned near the ends of clutch shaft 4, by means of chains. Chain I l runs from sprocket [2 on shaft 3 over a sprocket Ml attached to clutch drum 8 journaled on the left end portion of shaft 4 as viewed in Figure 2, then over a sprocket it on jack shaft 3, and finally over an idler sprocket ll on idler frame I8, and thence back to sprocket l2. The outside of the lower lay [9 of chain H engages the teeth of sprocket M on drum 8. The outer bend of the chain runs over sprocket IE on jack shaft 5 and the upper lay 2| of chain H runs over idler sprocket H which serves to raise chain lay 21 over sprocket M and to tighten the chain, as desired. Since drum sprocket M is driven by the outside of chain II it rotates in a direction opposite to that of shaft 3. Shaft 3 rotates in the direction indicated by arrows 3a so that the load drag is directly applied from sprocket M2 to drum sprocket M. Since, however, sprocket l5 on jack shaft 5 is at the end of chain ll it is driven and rotates in the same direction as shaft 3. on the right end of jack shaft 5 then drives a sprocket v23 on clutch drum 1, which is journalled on the right end portion of the clutch shaft 4 by means of chain 24. Since this chain runs directly from the sprocket 20 on the jack shaft 6 to the sprocket of the second or right hand clutch drum i, this drum will turn in the opposite direction to clutch drum 8.

Clutch shaft '4 is also provided with a driving sprocket 26,. which carries chain 21 to driven sprocket .28 to transmit motion to shaft 5, which carries a cable drum (not shown) around which cables are wound to operate the log carriage toward and from the saw in the usual manner.

A sprocket 20 parallel to the axis thereof and directed toward the central portion thereof, a control thimble centrally positioned and slidably keyed on said clutch shaft having end flanges adapted to engage the ends of the piston rods of said pump cylinders when moved axially from the central portion of said shaft and also having a centrally positioned annular groove; a control shaft journalled longitudinally on said frame havingan outer end extending beyond the end of said frame, an inner end positioned over the central portion of said clutch shaft; a sawyers control lever attached to and extending radially upward from the outer end of said control shaft, a yoke attached to the inner end of said control shaft, extending downward and engaged in the annular groove of said control thimble; chains and sprockets operating between said driving shaft and said clutch drums to rotate said drums in opposite directions; a chain and sprocket mechanism extending from said clutch shaft to said cable drum shaft to drive said cable drum shaft in the same direction as that of said clutch shaft when motion is imparted thereto by the engagement of the clutch shoes thereon with said clutch drums.

3. In a sawmill feed works and log carriage control mechanism having a horizontally disposed rectangular frame, a driving shaft transversely journalled thereon, a log carriage drum shaft transversely journalled thereon, a clutch shaft transversely journalled thereon, between said driving shaft and said log carriage drum shaft, drivin said log carriage drum shaft by chain and sprocket means, hydraulically operated clutches positioned on the end portions of said clutch shaft having clutch drums journalled on said shaft and driven by chains and sprockets from said driving shaft in opposite directions, clutch shoes to engage and operate said drums,

supported on hubs keyed to said clutch shaft. and hydraulic clutch shoe operating cylinders having piston rods extending parallel to, and toward the central portion of, said shaft, said cylinders being attached to said hubs; mechanism for controlling the operation of said clutch from a sawyers control lever at one end of said frame so as to vary the direction of said log carriage drum shaft, consisting of a control thimble slidably keyed to the central portion of said clutch shaft having an annular groove and end flanges adapted to engage the piston rods of said hydraulic clutch shoe operating cylinders when said thimble is slid from normal central position on said shaft toward either of said piston rods, a control shaft longitudinally journalled in the center of said frame havin an outer end extending beyond one end of said frame, a sawyers control lever extending upward from said outer end and a control yoke extending downward from its opposite end and engaging in the annular groove of said control thimble to communicate sliding motion to said thimble when said control lever is moved from side to side.

ANDREW G. PETERSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 432,444 Segur July 15, 1880 335,729 Wolfe Feb. 9, 1886 818,115 Painter Apr. 17, 1906 939,264 Jones Nov. 9, 1909 1,250,903 Kyle Dec. 18, 1917 2,431,580 Orr Nov. 25, 1947 2,543,278 Davis Feb. 27, 1951 2,560,126 Pease July 10, 1951 

